Insulating panel and method for building and insulating walls and ceilings

ABSTRACT

A method for manufacturing insulated structural panels for walls, roofs, ceilings, and floors with fixed structural members inserted in to machined cavities that allows for seamless joining of adjacent panels, all stud distances are at industry standard, for sheet hanging simultaneously with truss support without needing top plates for load distribution. The panels yield extreme insulation, sound attenuation, and structural values, while remaining light weight and economical. The composites are non out gassing and zero flame spread, also free from deterioration, and are air, vapor and moisture impermeable. Additional stiffener web is inserted at every four feet of height for higher shear, wind, snow, live and dead loads, and attached to the foundation with a “U” shaped steel channel or track secured with screws to the bottom and top of the panel. Track is also attached at doors and windows openings. All finishes, can be attached to the panels.

This invention relates to building insulations and more particularly toan insulating panel and an insulating ceiling structure for a building.It also relates to a method for building and insulating a ceiling, awall, a roof or a floor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Different techniques and products already exist in the correspondingindustry for insulating buildings. By insulation, we mean thermalinsulation as well as sound insulation. In general the techniques andproducts used depend mostly on the structure to be insulated and arespecifically adapted to either wall insulations, ceiling insulations,floor insulations or roof insulations. For example, the rigid insulatingpanels known in the corresponding industry, are constructed with verylight gauge “u” channels molded in to the foam, the major draw back fromthis construction technique is that the process of manufacturing is slowthus more expensive, and it also requires the use of cementious glues,mainly used for the steel members to adhere to the foam. Anotherdisadvantage encountered in these systems is that when a panel isaltered (cut) in the field, additional engineering is required tovalidate its structural value, damage in transit is also known to occurand structural members loose the adhesion to the foam and weaken thesepanels. Further disadvantages are inherited from those panels designflows, the structural members are offered in two formats, either 24inches, or 16 inches apart. In the 24 inches format it offers structuralsupport for the trusses or joists, but it is not suited for the hangingof sheet or furnishing since the industry standard is 16 inches oncenter. The 16 inches format does not have the same disadvantage but itrequires the addition of top plates to distribute the trusses loads,thus adding to the cost, complexity, and length of construction time. Afurther problem with this type of panels is that the mating of twoconsecutive panels requires two relief cutouts to meet one another andwhen even a small dimensional discrepancy exist the joint leaves abumped joint or a depression that would show on the finishing surface.

In order to secure those panels to a wall, these panels have a surfaceprovided by the very light gauge (24 gauge) steel members. The panelsare then secured to the wall by means of screws. A drawback with thistype of panel is that the time required for its installation is verylong and it is thus very expensive. Another drawback is that thefasteners used to secure furnishing are fasten to the light gaugeneeding either additional sheet to strengthen the connection, or manyscrews distributed through a larger area, this is also time consumingand costly. Moreover, these types of insulating panels need to beconstructed in various formats to be able to insulate ceilings becausetheir structure is not adapted for securing or hanging any object underthe ceiling, and need to be manufactured for each instance. This is oneof the reasons why the insulating panels known in the industry, are notcommonly used and are not practical to adapt to all formats of low riseconstruction. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need in theconstruction of buildings for a universal product that may beefficiently used for insulating either a wall, a ceiling, a roof or afloor, and this, at a low cost, not requiring adaptation or specialdesign for different applications, or special engineering when the needfor altering a panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a product that satisfies theseneeds. More particularly, an object of the present invention is topropose an insulating panel for a building structure, the panel having arigid insulating body consisting of a solid core of polystyrene foam anda plurality of framing members made of steel, plastic, wood or any otherstructural strengthening material embedded in said body, each framingmember are spaced at industry standard distances on center and offsetwith the opposite to allow direct support under the trusses thus addingthe additional capability within the same design for industry standardsheet hanging, and truss support avoiding thermal bridging, (FIG. 1).This gives a supporting stud under every truss, thus not requiring topplates for load distribution. No glues are needed and the structuralmembers can be modified without the loss of structural value.Additionally a reinforcement web is fitted every four feet in heightsecuring the structural member in a cross pattern for added structuralstrength. Each of the framing members has a bottom surface flush withone of the outer surfaces of the panel.

Each of said arms being provided along the framing member with aplurality of machined grooves running vertically on both sides of thefoam body, the foam body are produced in sections and a structural steelweb is fitted securing the vertical studs at midway to add stiffness andstronger shear loads, (FIG. 4) (FIG. 4 b) and thereby anchoring saidframing member in said body. The bottom and top surfaces being adaptedalong its length to receive and hold a plurality of fasteners to securethe panel to a “u” channel and this to the building structure and tohang an object to the panel. Another object of the present invention isto propose an insulating ceiling structure for extending under theload-bearing structure of a building, the insulating ceiling structurecomprising of: A first layer of panels, as described hereinabove. Thebottom surface of the framing members of each of the panels opposing theload-bearing structure, and a first set of fasteners for securing thepanels of the first layer to the load-bearing structure via the framingmembers. A third object of the present invention is to propose; a methodfor building and insulating a ceiling structure under the load-bearingstructure of a building, the method comprising the step of: a) fixing afirst layer of insulating panels as described hereinabove, to theload-bearing structure, the bottom surface of the framing members ofeach of said panels opposing the load-bearing structure (FIG. 5).

Advantageously, an insulating panel according the present invention,allows a rapid, solid and easy installation of the panel to anyvertical, horizontal or oblique structure. Thus, such an insulatingpanel may be used advantageously for an insulating any structure of abuilding, such as either the ceiling, the walls, the roof or the floors.Another advantage of the present invention is that the embedded framingmembers in the body of the panel are spaced offset to each other toallow industry standard sheet hanging, as well as industry standardstructural trusses support. This been most advantageous in directcomparison to other panel systems in the industry. This feature allowsto easily secure any trusses, sheathing covering, or any object, etc.directly to the panel very firmly. An unrestricted description ofpreferred embodiments will now be given with reference to the appendeddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of an insulating panelaccording to the present invention showing the two industry standardspacing for structural members;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a wall assembly utilizing a plurality ofpanels and the top and bottom channel (112) for framing the multiplesections that can be cut on the field as standard practices.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an insulating room structure accordingto a preferred embodiment of the invention showing a seamless perfectlyflat surfaces that are ideal for finishers.

FIGS. 4, 4 a, 4 b, 4 c. Are isometric sectional views showing thestiffen web (106) and its embedment in to the foam core and attachmentto the structural supporting members.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a roof panel and stiffener web assemblywith a sectional view of the Trusses/Joist structure according to apreferred embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Insulating panel: Referring to FIG. 1. a preferred embodiment is showntherein of an insulating panel (102) for a building structure. Thisinsulating panel (102) is of the type having a rigid insulating body andplurality of opposed structural members (104) (105), and connectingstuds (103) at each ends. Plurality of vertical cavities (110) suitedfor electrical, telephone and data wiring. According to the presentinvention, on one hand allows a very large range of use for such apanel, and on the other hand, allows a very rapid installation at a lowcost. In fact, an insulating panel according to the present inventionmay be used for insulating a wall as well as a ceiling or a roof or afloor.

The following description will now be more specifically directed to aninsulating ceiling structure and to a method for insulating a ceilingwith the panels described hereinbefore.

Insulating ceiling structure: Referring to FIG. 5, an insulatingstructure is illustrated therein for a ceiling and for extending underthe load-bearing structure of a building. The load-bearing structure inFIG. 5 comprises the ceiling joists on both ends of the panel.

FIG. 5 also shows the rafters placement and assembly. The insulatingceiling structure comprises of a first layer of insulating panels asdescribed hereinabove. Each panel is set such that the ends of thestructural steel members are securely inserted and fastened to the “U”channels at both ends.

The insulating ceiling structure may further comprise an upper layer ofpanels between the load-bearing structure and the first layer ofinsulating panels. As can be appreciated, the insulating ceilingstructure, as illustrated in FIG. 5, prevents the formation of thermalbridges between the interior and the exterior of the room to beinsulated.

Another method according to the present invention may comprise the stepsof: a) fixing an upper layer of plywood sheets to the load-bearingstructure, fixing a first layer of insulating panels under the upperlayer and fixing to the framing members of the first layer, a layer ofsheathing comprising a plurality of sheathing panels for covering thefirst layer of panels. In this case the sheathing panels are fixed tothe panels of the first layer by means of fasteners. As can beappreciated, the insulating panels according to the present invention,allows to rapidly and easily build different versions of insulatingstructures, depending on the insulation degree required by simply addinga layer of insulating panels to the structure. Although preferredembodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood thatthe invention is not limited to this precise embodiment and that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention.

1. An insulating panel for a building structure, the panel comprising of: A rigid body made of thermoplastic foam; two opposed outer surfaces; and a plurality of spaced-apart elongated framing members embedded in said body, each framing member having a U-shaped cross-section with a bottom surface parallel to both said outer surfaces and interconnecting a pair of oppositely disposed arms extending into the body, each of said arms being provided along the framing member with a plurality of grooves machined in to the foam of the body and thereby, anchoring said framing member in said body and held in position by the stiffener web (FIG. 4), the bottom surface being adapted along its length to receive and hold a plurality of fasteners to secure the panel to a “U” shaped steel channel and this to the building.
 2. An insulating panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of each framing members is flush with one of said outer surfaces of the panel.
 3. An insulating ceiling structure for installation under a load-bearing structure of a building, the insulating ceiling structure comprising: A first layer of panel as claimed in claim 2, the bottom surface of the framing members of each of said panels opposing the load-bearing structure; and a first set of fasteners for securing the panels of the first layer to the load-bearing structure via the framing members.
 4. An insulating ceiling structure as claimed in claim 4, further comprising: A second layer of panels similar to the panels of the first layer, the bottom surface of the framing members of each said panels of the second layer opposing the first layer of panels, and a second set of fasteners for securing the panels of the second layer via the framing members thereof to the framing members of the first layer.
 5. An insulating ceiling structure as claimed in claim 4, further comprising: A layer of sheathing comprising a plurality of sheathing panels for covering the second layer of panels; and a third set of fasteners for securing said sheathing panels to the second layer via the framing members thereof.
 6. An insulating ceiling structure as claimed in claim 5 further comprising of: An upper layer of plywood sheet lying between the load bearing structure and the first layer of panels. 